Commission greenlights Belgium’s fifth payment request for €225 million under NextGenerationEU

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the European Commission positively assessed Belgium’s fifth payment request for €225 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.

This is an important step in the delivery of the reforms and investments tied to this payment request, in the areas of clean and digital transition, mobility, education and training, labour market policy and biotechnology.

The Commission found that Belgium has satisfactorily completed 7 milestones and 12 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.

Flagship measures in this payment request include:

• Deploying low-emission buses across the Belgian regions by accelerating the replacement of older diesel fleets in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels with cleaner electric and hybrid vehicles. This initiative supports the decarbonisation of public transport, helps improve air quality in urban areas, and contributes to regional and national climate objectives, while also investing in the charging infrastructure needed for a modernised bus network.
• Reforming the vehicle circulation tax in Wallonia with the aim of making it fairer and better aligned with social and environmental priorities. The reform provides for reductions in the tax burden for certain categories of households, including large families and single-parent families, as well as for owners of carbon-neutral vehicles, among others.
• Improving the energy efficiency of housing through renovation by supporting works such as roof and wall insulation, window replacement, and heating system upgrades. Beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this initiative helps lower households’ energy bills, tackle energy poverty, improve indoor comfort, and increases the overall quality and resilience of the housing stock.

Next steps

The Commission has sent its preliminary assessment of Belgium’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Belgium can take place following the EFC’s opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission later.

Background

Belgium submitted its payment request on 17 April 2026. Belgium’s recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures to support clean, digital and social objectives, such as the renovation of private homes, social housing and public buildings, digitalisation of the public administrations, investments in public transport, electric driving and bike infrastructure, and the construction and equipment of training centres. The plan is financed by €5 billion in grants and €230 million in loans under the RRF.

Today’s payment request would bring the funds paid out to Belgium under the RRF to €3.86 billion. This corresponds to 73% of all funds included in the Belgian recovery and resilience plan, with 67.6% of all milestones and targets in the plan now fulfilled.

With a view to the closure of the Facility at the end of 2026, Member States must implement all outstanding milestones and targets by 31 August 2026 and submit their final payment requests by the end of September 2026.

For more information

Commission’s preliminary assessment of Belgium’s fifth payment request

Questions and answers on the RRF payment claim process

Belgium’s recovery and resilience plan

Recovery and Resilience Facility

Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation

Recovery and Resilience Facility project map

Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

EU as a borrower